BANGKOK, 30 July 2012 – The Finance Ministry is currently conducting a research on various methods to fix the problem of informal debt and provide people with easier access to formal loans. Deputy Minister of Finance Wirun Techapaiboon stated that he has assigned all related agencies to further study the project to eradicate the informal debt problem which has not been successful in the past. The reason behind the initial failure is that the government did not receive cooperation from middlepersons, who are creditors and influential figures.
The government, therefore, needs to examine all possible solutions to the informal debt problem, especially successful ones adopted by other countries in the past, in order to apply them to the Thai system accordingly. One of the examples being studied is Kenya’s measure to issue credits to people without going through financial institutions, which has proven to be very effective.
According to Mr. Wirun, the Government Savings Bank is currently looking into the Mobile Banking project, which, if successful, will allow people to directly contact state financial institutions for loans. Under the project, loan seekers can be granted the money immediately by state-run banks upon request. The budget limit is set at 2-3 billion baht.
The Deputy Finance Minister assured that thorough consideration will be given to each loan request prior to approval in order for the system to not affect the financial principles of the government.
